Bede — Commentary on Scripture

Be zealous therefore, and repent. He shows that there were those there who should have been emulated and followed.

Those whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. Do not refuse to suffer adversities, since this is a special sign of being loved by the Lord.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:20

The Lord stands at the doorway and knocks when he pours into our heart the memory of his will, either through the mouth of a man who is teaching [us] or through his own internal inspiration. When his voice is heard, we open the gate to receive [him] when we willingly present our assent to [his] counsels, whether secret or open, and devote ourselves to accomplishing those things that we recognize are to be done. He comes in order to eat with us and we with him. For he dwells in the hearts of his elect through the grace of his love in order to restore them always by the light of his presence. He lives there so that they may advance more and more to heavenly desires, and so that he himself may feed their zeal for heaven, as it were, with a most pleasing banquet.

Homilies on the Gospels 1.21

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, etc. I indeed knock at the door of your heart with the right hand of exhortation, which if you receive willingly, you will be deemed worthy to have me as a dweller and co-heir.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:21

To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. He says he will make the confessor a participant in power and judgment. He has made us sit together, he says, in the heavenly places in Christ.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:21

As I also conquered, and sat down with my Father on his throne. The Lord, having conquered, sat on the throne with the Father, because after the struggles of the passion, after the victory of the resurrection, He more clearly showed Himself to all that He was equal to the Father's power. Note that in each church, the Lord first reveals His power, then reviews the works of the church, either to be praised or blamed, always intermingled with admonition. Finally, He repays the due reward, which can be understood in the present and in the future, to both parties. When He adds: He who has ears, let him hear, it is undoubtedly fitting to understand the ears of the heart for obedience to the commandments.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:1

After this, I looked, and behold, a door open in heaven. After describing the works of the Church, what it was and what it would be like, he recapitulates from the birth of Christ, intending to say the same things differently. For he repeats the entire time of the Church in various figures in this book. Behold, he says, a door open in heaven. Fittingly, he sees a heavenly door about to ascend, to whom high mysteries are promised to be revealed. Or because Christ is the door, he who believes in Him born and suffered ascends to heaven, that is, to the height of the Church, and sees future spiritual events as he says.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:2

And immediately I was in the Spirit. And the first voice which I heard. Certainly similar to the previous voice, which had said: What you see, write in a book (Rev. 1).

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:2

And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. The Lord inhabits the church placed in heavenly conversation. Pope Gregory interprets the throne of God in the vision of Micah as angelic powers. Presiding higher in their minds, He disposes all things below.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:3

And a rainbow was around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. The rainbow, which is made by the sun shining on clouds, and after the flood was first made a sign of propitiation, by the intercession of the saints whom the Lord illuminates, signifies the Church being fortified. They are well compared to the emerald stone of great greenness; for as they expect an imperishable inheritance with perfect faith, they also powerfully protect others by praying.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:3

And he who was sitting was like the appearance of a jasper and a sardius stone. Jasper's color signifies water, sardius fire. With these two, we know the judgment is celebrated. For as it was in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24).

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:4

Clothed in white garments, and on their heads were golden crowns. That is, clothed in good works, seeking heavenly joys with the perpetual memory of the mind. For often the mind is understood by the name of the head.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:4

And around the throne were twenty-four thrones, etc. He sees the same Church, which he had seen as one seat because of the fellowship of faith, generated from the patriarchs and apostles through the double testament, in twenty-four thrones, sitting because of its judicial dignity in Christ. For all members will sit and judge, but in one and through one head. For how can the saints sit in judgment, standing at the right hand of the Judge? The twenty-four elders can also be understood as those who complete the perfection of work, which is commended by the number six, with the clear preaching of the Gospel. For four times six makes twenty-four.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:5

And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and voices and peals of thunder. This is what Mark says: But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the accompanying signs (Mark 16).

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:5

And seven burning lamps before the throne, etc. He speaks of the one Spirit in a sevenfold way, for there is one Spirit. But the sevenfold nature is perfection and fullness. Having mentioned the Holy Spirit, it is fitting that the wave of baptism follows, in which the same Spirit is believed to be received.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:6

And in the midst of the throne and around the throne, there were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. All parts of the throne of God, that is, the Church, are filled with the light of the Gospel from the knowledge of past and future things.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:6

And before the throne, there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. This refers to the faith of true baptism, which is related to glass, in which nothing different is seen on the outside than what it bears within. The grace of baptism is also figured by crystal, which is formed from water into ice and a precious stone.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:7

And the first living creature was like a lion, etc. These living creatures are interpreted in various ways. But blessed Augustine, according to the order of this book, says that Matthew is understood in the lion, who narrates the royal lineage of Christ, who also conquered as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. For the cub of the lion is Judah (Gen. 49). And in whom, as a king, he is feared by a king, worshipped by the magi. Where also the king reckons with his servants, the king makes a marriage for his son, and finally, the king separates the sheep from the goats. Luke is in the calf, which was a great sacrifice in the law. For not only are his beginnings around the temple and sacrifices, but it also concludes: And they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God (Luke 24). The face of a man signifies Mark, who, saying nothing of the royal or priestly power of the Lord, simply narrates the deeds of the man Christ. But John is the eagle, who sharply looks at the birth of the Word like the rising sun. The living creatures sometimes signify the evangelists, sometimes the whol…

And the first living creature was like a lion, etc. These living creatures are interpreted in various ways. But blessed Augustine, according to the order of this book, says that Matthew is understood in the lion, who narrates the royal lineage of Christ, who also conquered as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. For the cub of the lion is Judah (Gen. 49). And in whom, as a king, he is feared by a king, worshipped by the magi. Where also the king reckons with his servants, the king makes a marriage for his son, and finally, the king separates the sheep from the goats. Luke is in the calf, which was a great sacrifice in the law. For not only are his beginnings around the temple and sacrifices, but it also concludes: And they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God (Luke 24). The face of a man signifies Mark, who, saying nothing of the royal or priestly power of the Lord, simply narrates the deeds of the man Christ. But John is the eagle, who sharply looks at the birth of the Word like the rising sun. The living creatures sometimes signify the evangelists, sometimes the whole Church. Whose strength is shown in the lion, sacrifice in the calf, humility in the man, sublimity in the flying eagle.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:8

Each of them had six wings. By the perfection of their doctrine, they lift the Church to the heights. For the number six is called perfect because it is completed by its own parts. For one, which is the sixth part of six, and two, which is the third, and three, which is half, make up the same six. Alternatively, the six wings of the four living creatures, which are twenty-four, signify the same number of books of the Old Testament, by which the authority of the evangelists is supported and the truth is confirmed.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 4:8

And around and within they are full of eyes, etc. The holy Church vigilantly regards itself both before God and before men. The Psalmist had seen its inner eyes when he says: All the glory of the king's daughter is within (Ps. 45). And the outer eyes when he immediately adds: In embroidered garments, she is led to the king (Ibid.). Alternatively, whether you attend to the letter or seek the allegory, you will always find light from the Gospel. Another translation has: Full of eyes before and behind. Because the light of the Gospel shines into the mysteries of the law and infuses the world with the splendor of the new grace.

Commentary on Revelation